Church Crisis
The resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, over historic abuse allegations is a moment of reckoning for the Church of England.
Apart from a gritty unbeaten 56 from England’s Ollie Pope on Friday, they were the South African pacers who dominated as the Englishmen were left tottering at 262 for 9 when umpires called for stumps in Day 1 of the second Test of the four-match series at Newlands in Cape Town.
England captain Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat first sans the services of ace quick Jofra Archer and opener Rory Burns, both in-form players ruled out due to injury. Pope, playing in place of Jonny Bairstow, dug in when wickets tumbled at the other end and got to 56 from 132 balls, his innings was laced with seven fours.
For South Africa, Anrich Nortje returned figures of 2 for 54 in only his third outing whereas veteran Vernon Philander took 2 for 46 on Day 1. Meanwhile, Kagiso Rabada’s 2 for 63 and Dwaine Pretorius’ 2 for 26 helped hosts’ cause.
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Pope and star all-rounder Ben Stokes (47) stitched 58 runs for the fifth wicket before the southpaw threw away his wicket to a Nortje delivery. Meanwhile, Jos Buttler’s poor run of form continued as he departed for 29 as England lost the tail early before James Anderson held on with Pope.
Earlier, England lost Burns’ replacement opener Zak Crawley (4) cheaply before Joe Denly (38) and Dom Sibley (34) stitched together 55 runs for the second wicket.
Joe Root (35) also got a start but Philander and Rabada kept taking wickets at regular intervals to assure that the Three Lions don’t threaten to take the match away.
Notably, South Africa are already 1-0 up in the series as they won the first Test by 107 runs.
Brief scores: England 1st innings: 262/9 (Ollie Pope 56 not out, Ben Stokes 47; Anrich Nortje 2/54, Vernon Philander 2/46, Kagiso Rabada 2/63, Dwaine Pretorius 2/26) against South Africa.
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